Monthly Archives: May 2013

Storytelling often consists of elements of fantasy and reality. Combining fantasy and reality is how I created this poem, “I Dream”.  Taking pieces of documents dreams and a moment in time, I wove together this poem which led me to wonder about the meaning since such powerful pieces of dream imagery to express but now I’m left with different thought of why this was so powerful.  It is the descriptive imagery of how I shaped this poem inspired by vivid dreams. I wrote this poem in 2008 and  I feel that it is one of my best poetry pieces, with playful and thoughtful tone.

Dream on…

Playfully,

Amy

 I Dream

 

I reminisce

His quiet questions,

 “What is going on in that head of yours?”

 “What do you dream of?”

Words disappeared at the time.

           

I dream,

Looking, upon lush grassy mountains,

With paved gray mazes,

Winding upward through shaped cotton clouds,

 In the lightest of blue skies.

 

I dream,

Envisioning the earth, atmosphere,

Oceans of aquamarine,

Filled with silver-shaded diving dolphins,

Swimming in circles.

 

I dream,

Falling, floating down

On a soft, salt, sand beach

Discovering hidden treasures of gold.

 

I dream,

Visualizing, children dancing with colorful ribbons,

Laughing in melodic tone,

Shining under winter’s luminous light.

 

I dream,

Imagining, a passionate poet

With his sweet sounding song,

Guiding me down the slate stones, hand in hand,

“Follow me” he said, “I will lead you through the winding way.”

 

I dream,

Picturing him wondering about me,

Sensing everything, feeling free, wishing for the moment’s return

So I could respond so sweetly.

 

.

Written by Amy DuVall Clark

At the daycare center where I work, we recently had an area poet visit our center. While watching him interact with the children, and sharing his stories of inspiration for his poems. This brought to mind of how stories can be told on long narrative or short narrative, through just pictures or just words. Sometimes it is the picture that captivates us with its stillness and silence. However, we cannot ignore the written form of the story gives us, given it some sort of deeper or alternate meaning, that some may not pay attention to just visual. It is the combination of words, pictures and sound that given us the whole story.

Our visiting poet used dramatic gestures and descriptive language to tell the children his experience with what he observed and the children were captivated by his stories. The poet gave varied accounts on how he related his experience through storytelling, first sharing the whole experience through dramatic storytelling, then sharing his written poems, verbally to the class. After he shared his poetry, he read our class poems, that teachers created through conversations we had with the children about counting, what we see outside, and the squirrel that we observe eating the birdseed from birdfeeder. The poems we created all based on their descriptions about what they have observed.

Sharing stories is a main tradition that our center’s director started years ago and is a main focus for discussions with children, parents and staff in promoting a better understanding and respect for others. What are the stories we have to share? Why are our stories important? Communication and actively listening to others is the key. Conversations with children and giving the children experiences with storytelling, songs and poetry are the most favorite pieces about my profession.

Playfully,

Amy